Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Devils Crash and Burn

Tonight's game didn't start off as I would of like it, I mean why didn't Rene Rancourt sing the national anthem??? What better way to start a game than to have Rene fist pump to start the game off?

As for the game itself, not really the start that all us Bruins fans were hoping for, after the 10 minutes the shots were 10-2 New Jersey. The Bruins were playing in the defensive zone for most of the period and when they did get into the Devils zone they couldn't do anything. A power play goal by Ilya Kovalchuk gave the Devils a 1-0 lead, the Bruins got a power play of their own not to long after and did ABSOLUTELY nothing.Not one shot, they couldn't even get anything going, however a few minutes later Thornton did score a tip in goal with about five minutes left in the 1st period. After that goal the Bruins picked up their game, finally they were playing good, tough, physical hockey, even Seguin was throwing his body around, Kaberle was utilizing his puck moving skills and getting the puck into the zone and getting a few good scoring chances of his own. Overall not a bad 1st period, but definitely could of had a better start to the game.
Twenty seconds into the 2nd period the Bruins went on the power play for the 2nd time tonight, and again did not score, but did have 5 quality shots on net, all turned away by Brodeur, much better power play this time around. Bruins kept their momentum going in the second, playing very good hockey. 8 Minutes into the period the Bruins went on their 3rd power play of the night, and HALLELUJAH they score, that's right the Bruins got a power play goal, a nice pass from Lucic to Big Z that Chara knocked home to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead. As the game continued the Bruins continued to play very good hockey in all 3 phases of the game.
Going into the 3rd period with a 2-1 lead the Bruins seem to finally have waken up and played some very good hockey tonight.They did start off the 1st ten minutes like the last 7 games, but once Shawn Thornton scored on a tip in, the Bruins woke up and started playing with passion and emotion, playing great defense, keeping the puck in the Devils zone and creating scoring chances. Thomas was making saves on shots that needed to be saved by not allowing any bad goals.
Not playing well for about 7 or 8 minutes and not being able to get the puck out of the defensive zone, Chara takes a pass from Lucic in the neutral zone leading to a nice move by big Z and a great pass from Bergeron, Lucic gave the Bruins a 3-1 lead. With a empty net goal by Recchi that would give the Bruins a 4-1 victory. Game, Set, Match...Bruins went 1 for 5 on the power play but looked very good with some good quality shots and good play by the defense. The penalty kill went 1 for 2 allowing Kovalchuk to score the only goal of the game, but had a BIG kill in the 3rd period with the score 2-1 and the Devils playing like they did in the 1st period. Thomas made 30 saves on 31 shots coming out big tonight and hopefully gaining some momentum before Thursday night’s game against the Montreal Olympic Dive Team.

3rd Star = Kaberle
2nd Star = Chara
1st Star = Lucic / Thomas

Disappointment = I was contemplating on putting the power play on here but after good play and a power play goal I decided not to. A good team effort gives this category N/A.